Mistrial declared in phone assault case

The Associated Press

INDEPENDENCE, Mo. -- A judge declared a mistrial Friday after a Jackson County Circuit Court jury said it was unable to reach a verdict in the case of a man accused of shoving a cell phone into his former girlfriend's throat.

Judge Michael W. Manners accepted the jury's conclusion it could not reach a verdict in the case of Marlon Brando Gill, 24, and declared the mistrial.

Prosecutors did not comment on the possibility of retrying the case.

Gill had been charged with first-degree assault for allegedly forcing the cell phone into the mouth of Melinda Abell, 25, on Dec. 23. During the trial, Abell testified she had been drinking that evening and did not remember how the phone ended up in her throat. Gill said she tried to swallow it to prevent him from finding out whom she had been calling that night.

Abell was later taken to a hospital, where an emergency room doctor removed the phone.

Abell wrote in a statement to police after the incident: "I think he thought I'd been talking to other guys. ... He took my phone to see who I had been calling. ... If I didn't want him to see my phone, I would have just thrown it out the window and busted it."

Though she testified that she could not recall writing the statement, the statement was allowed as evidence.

Much of her testimony centered on her relationship with Gill, of Kansas City, which started in 2004. She testified that he had verbally and physically abused her, but under cross-examination she acknowledged she never told police about the abuse and continued to live with Gill until the cell phone incident.

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Information from: The Kansas City Star, http://www.kcstar.com